Graphic Novel Book Clubs
This past fall, I had the opportunity to moderate a fantastic virtual panel about Graphic Novel Book Clubs for C2E2 with Jessica Iverson, Anna Rabin, Tim Smyth, & Louise Tripp. You can watch our recording below. You can also check out resources our panelists mentioned at https://tinyurl.com/LevelUp-c2e2.
This fantastic experience was joyful, engaging, eye-opening, and powerful; I learned so much from these amazing educators. And this conversation offered so many new ways of approaching my Books & Bites Graphic Novel Book Club., which resumed in the spring and was then put on an indefinite hiatus. (Don’t worry - you know I’ll always find ways to embed comics club in my practice no matter what!)
When I saw the call for Libcomix Online Program panels from the Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table, I jumped at the chance to get the team back together again - and invite other awesome educators to share their experiences hosting book clubs in a variety of educational settings. We were honored to have our panel accepted and since we had so many educators, we decided to divide our panels to focus on people working in public libraries and in schools. We can, of course, learn from each other and apply our methods (and book recommendations!) in any setting, but it helped us focus on the interests and needs of our audience. It was a dream come true to moderate these panels and celebrate the incredible work these panelists have been doing. As a live panel, we also had the opportunity to engage with our audience and learn from them, which is such a benefit of virtual panels! We are in this together! (It also was so meaningful to see our audience in the chat and I only wish I would have saved it to share all the fantastic things they mentioned!)
These sessions were coordinated by the Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table. The GNCRT is dedicated to supporting educators and library staff in all aspects of engaging with graphic novels and comics, including collection development, programming, and advocacy. If you have any questions about the Round Table visit them online at www.ala.org/rt/gncrt.
Graphic Novel Book Clubs: Public Library
“Whether you're a veteran graphic novel book club host or dream of running a comics club, our panel of comic and graphic novel book club hosts will offer you practical tools to plan, organize and host clubs in your public library. They'll share ideas for creating clubs that will build community, facilitate critical conversations, promote lifelong literacy and inspire creativity. They will also share their experiences for handling logistics as well as resources for finding inclusive comics and books.”
Our Public Library panelists were Alec B. Chunn, Kelly Campos, Jessica Iverson, & Louise Tripp. I had the pleasure of moderating our fabulous conversation!
You can check out the recording of our Graphic Novels Book Clubs in Public Libraries Panel, along withe audio transcript here.
You can check out the resources we mentioned here.
Graphic Novel Book Clubs: Schools
“Our panelists will share practical tools for planning, organizing and hosting comic and graphic novel book clubs in school libraries, classrooms, and schools. They'll discuss ways to promote literacy, inspire creativity, embed comics into instruction and explain how to find inclusive materials.”
Our School panelists were Anna Rabin, Tim Smyth, and Mariela Siegert. I was honored to moderate our amazing conversation.
You can check out the recording of our Graphic Novel Book Clubs in Schools Panel, along withe audio transcript here.
You can check out the resources we mentioned here.
Thank you to everyone on the GNCRT Libcomix Online Committee, including Vanessa, Carla, and Brittany for all of your help arranging the panel, handling the logistics and technical details. Your work ensured we could focus on the content - and not worry about the tech :) (As someone who is usually in charge of the tech, I appreciate y’all even more!) (If I missed anyone, please let me know and extend my thanks!) Thank you to the folks at ALA, especially Tina Coleman!
A huge thank you to these librarians/educators for taking the time at the end of a very stressful year to share their expertise, passion, and knowledge! You can reach out to them using the links above if you have questions. Feel free to reach out to us if we can support you in your book club dreams! Know that hosting book clubs can make an incredible difference, whether it’s in a formal setting or a passive program. I even received a message from one of my former college students who attended our Schools panel, which made me so happy and affirmed, who shared how much she gained from the session and how she wants to bring these ideas into her practice as a social worker, knowing comics can build understanding and community. (Reader, you know this made me cry!)
Throughout these panels, we all came back to how sharing and discussing stories, especially through the comics medium, builds community. And in the end, that’s the most important work we do.